Hung Man's Tree
by Oblivion-Time
Summary: It was a tale told to him by the young damsel in distress. A curse that harboured the lives of the Albarn family. The branches of the curse decorated with nooses which victims and Albarns would end their lives on. Soul, a young boy wanting to help, followed the harmonic tunes from the ocarina and he stumbled onto the cursed girl sitting on the cursed tree's cursed branches.
1. Part 1

**Hung Man's Tree **

**Part 1**

Ragged breath and rapid breathing, high grass whipped at Soul's legs. Ripped at his brown pants and separated under his dirty bare feet. His eyes quickly snapped toward every direction. Left. Right. Forward. Backward. Only tall yellow grass, high bushes and flowers. No sigh of blue hair.

Soul lowered his head, taking cover by the high dry grass. Cautiously he moved forward. The dry grass broke under his weight and loud snapping sounded. Too loud for Soul's liking. His feet carefully moved forward, one step at a time. Each step was treated with care and reduced the sound of the snapping grass. He stalked through the grass like a panther would sneak up on its prey.

SNAP!

Soul came to a sudden halt and his head whipped toward his right side. Quickly he crocked his back and neared the ground. With rapid and light steps, he neared a dry bush and dived under it. The naked branches rattled and he moved closer to the core of the bush. His eyes looked pass the dry branches and searched for the enemy.

The sound of the snapping grew louder. Crunch. Silence. Another crunch. It grew louder.

Soul's breathe caught in his throat. His lungs contracted when he saw the tall grass move, revealing feet brown with dirt and damaged hems of black pants. The grass under his feet crunched as he neared the bush. He came to a stop. Soul's eyes stayed wide, holding his breath. The grass broke under his feet and he moved away from the bush. Soul exhaled and his muscles finally relaxed.

"You know I see you?"

Soul barely had time to inhale when a large ball of dirt sored through the air and luckily for him, the naked branches were strong enough to slice through the ball and down fell pieces of soil.

"Darn!" Soul crawled out from under the bush and brushed off the dirt from his clothes. "Tell me you found Kilik and Ox before me!"

His blue haired friend smirked wide and crossed his arms over his chest. "Of course I would find those cheaters before you. We got to crush those cheaters, friend." His friend, Black*Star held out his fist, which Soul bumped with his own before he shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Where did they even hide? I never ran into them while trying to find a place to hide."

Black*Star turned and pointed toward the distance. "Close to the forest under a bush." He turned back toward his friend and smirked even wider. "Those suckers wouldn't dare to enter the dead forest."

"Speak of yourself. You don't dare to step a foot in the forest either." Soul snickered and his friend glared at him with blue silvers.

"Whatever. Next time we are going to hide in there and we will beat those teaming cheaters!"

Soul cocked his eyebrow with wonder. "Wait. Wouldn't that make us cheaters? You know it would be against the rules if we hid in the forest and we are teaming right now. Aren't we as big cheaters as them?"

Black*Star snorted and crossed his arms over his chest. "Of course not! We are simply stepping up our game. We are only doing this because _they are cheat―_"

"Black*Star! Soul!" Both of their heads snapped toward Soul's left toward the direction of the sound. "It's time to go home! Ox's mom is here and it's soon six!" Kilik yelled.

Black*Star cursed colorfully and turned fully toward the direction of the exit. "Let's go home. We can always kick their butts tomorrow."

"Yeah. I don't want to get yelled at by mother for being late. Again." Soul complained as he ran his hand through his pale knotted hair.

Black*Star snorted and both of them started to head toward the exit of the meadow. "Tell me about it. My father grabbed the belt when I came back and let me tell you, you are lucky for having parents who consider spanking to be wrong. Your butt isn't sore on a daily bases."

Soul sighed and rolled his eyes. "You wouldn't get the belt if you didn't sneak out to visit Tsubaki."

The grass caressed their hands and parted as they continued further. Black*Star's hand opened up and touched the straws as he went beside his friend. "Having a sore butt and meeting Tsubaki nightly is definitely worth it."

They exited the meadow only to find Kilik and Ox gone. Both of the boys blinked with confusion as their heads whipped toward the sides. "Where did they go?" Soul asked.

"Probably home." Black*Star's head rose toward the sky and immediately an "Oh-ho" left his mouth. "The sun is already sinking. We better hurry."

"Right―" From the side of his vision, he saw a bright red color. His eyes locked at a bright red coat with an equally bright red hood covering the person's face. The cloak hugged the person's waist and poured from the waist and down to the ground. The cloak was very feminine and the person's height told him it was a girl his age.

The girl headed away from the city. Sun was soon to go down and being out in the dark was dangerous.

Soul's hand absentmindedly rubbed his chest.

He knew all too well what could happen when being out alone at night. He, a boy, was in danger and then her, a young girl, would be in greater danger than he was.

"Soul?"

His head returned to his friend. Black*Star had his eyebrow cocked at him and he had already walked a few step away from him. "Um," Quickly Soul glanced back where the girl he saw enter the meadow's high grass. She was gone. "I will be right behind you." Soul waved toward his friend before he dived into the meadow, he left his friend astonished.

Soul's little stomach stirred as he pushed through the meadow, his eyes whipped from right to left in search of the red cloak.

He had no clue what he's doing, but he knows as soon as he gets home, it might be the first time his father choses to introduce him to a belt. He gulped at the thought of having his pants pulled down and meeting the hard leather of his father's belt.

Black*Star always treasured Tsubaki Nakatsukasa, the blacksmith's daughter, in a very strange way. Once Black*Star described his emotions toward the girl on earth. He grabbed a stick and slowly started to draw down what he meant. The picture ended up being a screw and a nut. Black*Star ended up saying he felt drawn toward Tsubaki, felt compelled to be in her presence and he didn't know why.

Soul never knew why Black*Star felt so strongly about the blacksmith's daughter, but maybe he's getting a taste out of the nut as well.

Soul continued to run deeper and deeper, his ears sharpened, searching for any sound of dry grass breaking or rustling.

He was taught to be a man. That women are weaker and more fragile than men. They need a man's guidance and protection. The girl he saw _needed_ his protection. Maybe if he told his father he upheld his duty as a man and searched for a girl who could get in trouble, maybe his father would cut him some slack?

Soul came to a halt when the meadow came to an end and the small strip of sand separated the meadow from the forest.

The girl couldn't have entered the forest. Did her parents never teach her that the forest is dangerous? His own parents were very reluctant to tell him the little he did know, that dangerous people enter the forest and he could run into someone.

Just like how he ran into _him_.

The silence broke. Soft music broke through the silence of the forest. It reminded him of his mother's flute, but at the same time not. This felt more earthy and warmer than of his mother's cold and high tunes. The sun had started to disappear behind the trees, but the flute's soft and comforting tunes seemed to light up the eerie forest.

Without him noticing it, he'd entered the forest and was already a yard inside. The comfort of the flute warmed his chest and he simply _had_ to follow the music. Maybe the music was produced from the girl in the red cloak, or maybe he would bump into her on the way.

Quite frankly, he was so touched with the music he thought he could do anything. Save a city with his bare hands from bandits or slay mythical creatures with a rock as long as he heard the music from the flute. The comforting tunes warmed his chest and radiating off him and purging the darkness around him. The music gave him strength to confidently walk through the darkening forest toward the source of the music.

The music from the flute grew stronger and louder as he went deeper inside of the forest. The darkness around him seemed to lighten. His pace slowed down a little as he approached the light. The sound of the flute strongly resonated throughout the forest. Soul approached the light and he discovered the source of the light; the full moon.

Soul gasped lightly when he exited the forest and found himself in a clearing. A large, very old, dead tree stretched toward the sky and its branches reached toward every direction as if it was a dying man reaching for his loved one. Chills ran down his spine when he noticed the plethora of nooses hanging from the tree's branches. The kind of nooses when someone would end their life.

In the tree, the red coat of the girl poured down from the branch she was seated on. The girl's back rested against the trunk of the diseased tree and in her hands she held a blue oval shaped wooden instrument. Lips blew into a pipe as fingers moved over the object, the object which he thought was a flute was an ocarina.

His breath was taken when he saw blond hair tied into pigtails with bands as red as blood. The girl's eyes were closed as her fingers danced over the ocarina and produced the wonderful music.

He exited the forest and headed toward the girl. "Excuse me."

The music stopped and the ocarina was removed from her rosy lips. Her eyes slowly opened and green eyes lit up the darkness.

"It is dark." He gulped. The darkness was suddenly thicker and the air sent chills through his spine. "Dangerous people enter the forest at night. You could be hurt."

The girl's eyes fluttered as he came to a stop in front of the scary dead oak tree. "Oh, I'm in no danger."

Now he was the one to bat his eyes with confusion. "What do you mean? Of course you are in danger if you play your ocarina where dangerous people enter."

She tilted her head and a smile spread on her face. "My destiny is not to die by the hands of someone else."

"Destiny?" Soul questioned. "What do you mean?"

The girl lowered her ocarina and put it in a pocket in her cloak. "It is a long story." She swung her legs from the branch and scooted away from the trunk. Gracefully her hand patted the branch. "If you aren't bothered by the dark and hasn't a place to be at, I could tell you my story."

He _had_ a place to be at. Home.

Deep inside of him, in the core of his being, it stirred with unknown. All he knew he couldn't turn back now. Questions rose in his mind he carved an answer for. He couldn't turn away now.

Soul approached the trunk of the tree and his hands settled on the darkened bark. He used the first branch to climb up to then hoist up on the branch beside the girl.

The moment his eyes locked with her green ones, his breath was taken. They were even greener than he thought they were. Perfectly vibrant emerald filled with light and sparkled vividly. Her eyes were the light, but just underneath the surface of her unique irises, he could sense mystery. Secrets like no other young girl he had even seen.

Secrets Soul would love to get his hands on.

His curiosity will be the end of him one day.

"I'm Maka." Her rosy lips shape the words. "What's your name?"

"Soul." He paused. "Don't you have a place to be at? Aren't your parents worried about you?"

Her long eyelashes fluttered and her rich lips parted. Her head tilted slightly. "What do you mean?" She said astonished. "I am with my father. I am home."

It was his turn to be surprised. "What?" His head immediately searched left and right over the meadow in search for a third-party Maka was talking about. "Where is he?"

Her bare hand raised and to his surprise, her index finger pointed toward one of the many nooses hanging on a branch on the other side of the tree. The rope was old and started to rot and through the darkness, the circle of the noose had dark sports. He could swear on his mother's grave it was blood.

"It took him a year ago." Maka spoke softly as her finger lowered.

"What took him?" He inhaled shakily. "Was it a criminal? Or maybe an assassin?"

"What? No." She shook her head. Her golden pigtails swung at the force of her shake. "The curse took him."

"Curse?" Soul tilted his head.

Soul was beyond confused. She appeared to be… different. A young girl wouldn't defy her mother by entering the forest. She would definitely not be seated in a tree full with ropes and playing an ocarina.

Shivers ran down his spine and he shuddered.

How could a young girl, maybe a year or two younger than him, be so calm at the place where her father died? If his father's life had ended in a dark forest in an eerie tree, he wouldn't come close to it. This girl… she did it. She had the strength to return to the place where her father took his last breath. Maybe it wasn't strength, maybe she was young and naïve and didn't understand the gravity of the place she found herself at.

"It's the curse of the Albarn." She swung her legs back and forth. "The curse wanted him, and the curse gets what it wants."

"Do such things exist?" Soul questioned.

Maka nodded simply. "Yes. The curse has run in my family for generations." The cold wind of the night grabbed a hold of her pigtails. Her hand ran her right pigtail behind her ear. "Papa never told me why, only that a curse is in my bloodline and one day, just like him, the curse will collect my life."

His breath was taken. His skin prickled and chills covered his body. The eerie atmosphere. The dark tail from the strange girl. He felt uncomfortable.

"One day, any day really, the curse will take over and then―" her finger rose again and slowly went from right to left, pointing at four nooses right above them. "―my corpse will hang from the middle noose to the right and my victims will hang around me."

His heart skipped a beat. Goosebumps covered his skin.

Her arm lowered and settled on her lap. "I can't die from anything other than the curse. My life will end in this tree like all of my ancestors. My life is in the hands of the c―"

"I got to go." Soul shivered. He may be a big boy and handled the ghost stories well around the bonfire. He was the one who handled scary stories the best, but this was no ghost story. The girl gave away no signs of joking and spoke with velvet soft voice. Maka was eerily calm about the situation when he was freaking out.

Maka's eyes fluttered with confusion as Soul jumped down from the branch. "O-oka―"

"BYE!" And he hightailed away from the tree, leaving Maka behind.

He didn't get a beating from his father when he got back. Instead he got scolded and went to bed with an empty stomach. They never found out he entered the forest.

The girl in the tree, Maka, she occupied his mind. She was the solid version of mystery and strange. Hair a pale blond like an angel's and lips as rosy as cherry, her appearance was the one of the brightest of white roses. Beauty that reeled you in and thorns that stung your fingers and forced you to back off to then near the rose again. It was an evil cycle he found himself in. He wanted to see her again, talk to her again, but the memory of the cold air, strange stories and the knee-shaking tree they sat on, slammed down the idea.

He did enter the forest, this time, in daylight, and she wasn't there. No trace of her presence around the tree or in the forest.

He did learn something about the tree in the forest. After eavesdropping on strangers on the market talking about it, he did learn the tree's name is Hung Man's Tree. Every time someone wanted to kill themselves, they went to that particular tree. They had found the corpse of a man hung from a noose from the tree. The city's council had to investigate the occurrence. He'd seen the council enter the forest with the city's doctor and the black smith. The man's death had been decided as suicide and none talked about a strange girl with a red cloak in the forest. The council had tried to take down the nooses, but the next night they would be back again.

After a few years, the Hung Man's Tree and Maka was forgotten.

Soul swayed from side to side to the tunes of sweet jazz. The girl followed his lead, right and then a step backwards. She was an experienced dancer and she was attractive in her dark blue dress and her deep chocolate eyes. There was nothing wrong with the girl but…

She wasn't _the_ one.

"The night is lovely." She spoke with confidence. "There is a full moon tonight."

"Yes it is." They took a step toward the left and then forward.

"You want to go out to the balcony and get some air?"

He sighed and shook his head. "I am sorry, Miss, but I'm not the one for you." He removed his hands from her waist and hand. "Now excuse me." He bowed and walked away from the woman. He ran his hand through his hair as he exited the dance floor and headed toward the exit. The cool air of the night hit his skin and he shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Oh no!" A hand suddenly grabbed his arm and flipped him around. Stark blue hair came into his view and narrowed eyebrows. "Are you even trying? That was like, the eighth girl, right?"

"Yeah." Soul grabbed Black*Star's hand and pried it off his bicep. "And she wasn't the one I want to marry."

Black*Star groaned with annoyance and rolled his eyes. "Seriously, all of our friends are already married. _I'm_ married and Tsubaki is expecting our first child and here you are _still_ a bachelor. The last one was beautiful, what was wrong with her?"

"She was attractive." Soul confessed. "But I wasn't emotionally attached to her. I do want to love my wife, and she to love me in return, I can't simply marry someone to then hope for love."

"And I want you to find love." Black*Star pated Soul's shoulder brotherly. "You _deserve_ love. But we aren't going to live forever. Maybe you will have to lower your standards in order to find someone to love and marry. The clock is ticking and a different male could marry the woman of your dream, or maybe she's already married."

Soul sighed loudly, the cool air lowered his body temperature. "I know alright, but I _didn't_ have any love interest when we were young. It was easy for you to choose and m―"

"Hold on!" Black*Star exclaimed and raised his hand. "It wasn't easy marrying Tsubaki. Heck, I had to prove to her father I'm worthy her by _spending a night in the forest_. I could've frozen to death or gotten murdered."

"But you managed and won her and you knew she was the one. I have no clue who I want and therefore I have to try out _everyone._" He sighed and ran his ran through his hair. "I'm a successful shoemaker and I meet women daily, but _none_ of them has interested me." Soul took a seat on the stairway and ran both of his hands through his hair. "I don't know what is wrong with me. There are so many beautiful women who would want to marry me, but I don't feel anything toward them."

"Maybe you're just gay."

Soul snapped his head toward his friend and glared.

"Sorry." Black*Star took a seat next to him on the staircase. "Maybe it's just because you haven't met the right woman. When I met Tsubaki I knew I had to have her. Her father was very scary and had me question if she was worth the trouble, but I soon learned she was. She was worth all of those belt whips."

"I have already met all the women living in the city. No one of them is the one." Soul growled with annoyance. "Seriously, if I was meant to get married, shouldn't I already be married? Wes is already married and has a baby boy and here I am living alone in my house."

"You know what you should do."

Soul turned toward his best friend. "What?"

"You should go for a walk. Go somewhere you can think in peace and decide what you want to do on the marriage front. It is your life and you should decide how much you want to put on line to find your one true love."

Slowly Soul nodded. Tasting the idea on his tongue. "That sounds like a good idea." He stood up on his feet and smirked toward his friend. "Thanks. I will see you tomorrow."

"You're welcome!" Black*Star waved toward Soul as he went down the stairs. Soul shoved his cool hands in his pockets. He should've brought a coat with him to warm his body. It was quite a walk from the mansion of the Death family to his lonely home on the outskirts of the city.

At least, the way to his home would give him time to think.

The cool air nibbled at his skin and he pulled his thin suit jacket closer to his body.

If no women in the city was the one for him, he could always close up his shop for a while and travel to different cities in search for a wife. With that came consequences, maybe he would never return to Death City and never see his brother and his friends. He did treasure the City he grew up in and quite frankly, he didn't want to move to a different city.

Maybe searching for a wife in a different city wasn't the smartest move. His brother did have a baby, and he bet they would have plenty more, which means he didn't have any responsibilities to have children to pass on the family name. Wes's babies would do that.

He always could live alone and when the one came along, she came along. He would have love then, and maybe not any kids, but were they that important to him?

Instantly his cheek twitched.

Of course children were important. He would love to have kids with the one he loved. Kids who would bring trouble to his world by breaking plates and run right in front of his feet. He would love to have his own small problems he could love.

But then, having kids meant he had to have a wife, and the wife he wanted was someone who loved him and who he loved.

He sighed loudly and ran his hand once again through his hair. At the beginning of the night it was nicely combed back, but now it was a mess.

He was back at square one; in search of a woman to love and be loved from.

Life was a―

The silence of the night was broken by a sweet melody. Music that brightened the night and protected his cold body from the chilling air. The melody came from a… an ocarina. A very familiar tune.

He turned around at the direction of the melody. It came from the direction of the criminal's forest.

The forest he entered as a young man. He'd found a dead meadow in the middle of the forest and a huge dead oak tree, Hung Man's Tree. Soul had followed a young girl inside and found her by following her ocarina.

His eyes widened and the memories of the girl, of Maka returned to his mind. He'd been scared out of his wits when she told him about her curse, about the nooses hanging from the branches. He'd run away and left her behind in the creepy forest.

It had to be Maka in the forest. No one was as crazy as her to play an ocarina in the criminal's forest.

He could meet her again.

Without thinking, Soul hightailed into the criminal's forest. The sticks on the ground broke under his shoes and the branches from the trees ripped at his grey formal wear. The air wasn't as cold as before. His heart pumped blood rapidly through his veins and his eyes were focused at the direction of her ocarina.

Images of the little girl's blond hair and rosy lips appeared on his mind.

Years had gone by, how would she look like?

The thought barely processed fully and he threw himself through the clearing and once again, he stood at the edge of the dead meadow. The dead oak tree stood proudly in the middle with the nooses hanging from the branches. On the same branch as before, a girl― a woman, sat on it wearing a red coat, hair in pigtails and a blue ocarina against her mouth.

His breath was taken. The moon filtered through the dead branches of the tree and casted a― a― beautiful shine over her. Her fingers elegantly moved over the ocarina and kept on producing the beautiful music. The warm, comforting and encouraging music.

Slowly, he went closer to the woman. Her green eyes fluttered open and glanced in his direction before they closed, she kept on playing. He entered under the trees large branches and leaned against the tree, soaking in the sweet melody of hers. His eyes closed in content and for the first time, enjoyed himself at the Hung Man's Tree.

The song came to an end and a beat of silence. "I didn't think you would dare to enter the forest again."

He opened his eyes and watched her remove her ocarina and put it in the pocket of her cloak. "I heard your ocarina." He silenced. "I don't know really why I came. I did try to find you after I ran away like that, although, you were gone."

Her eyes fluttered with confusion and she turned her head down fully toward him. "You did? Why?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "I don't really know. I guess I was a little worried about you. A girl shouldn't be in a dangerous forest."

"Nothing is going to happen to me."

"Because of the curse?"

"Yes." She swung her legs down from the branch and settled her hands on each side of her. Maka jumped down from the branch and landed skillfully like a cat on the ground. "The curse protects me from harm. It rules my life and it decides how long I live. I know I'm not going to die from a disease or animal attack or from an accident since my life will end here."

"Then why are you even here? If you know you're going to die here, then why are you still here? Don't you want to live?"

She turned silent.

Even though the air was cold and he stood right under Hung Man's Tree where many lives had ended, he didn't feel afraid. Not even a little.

"Of course I want to live." She whispered. "But I don't know _where_ to go. My mother left me when I was born and dumped me on my father. When he died, I was alone. I don't have anyone else than this." She made a gesture toward the trunk of the tree. "I live in this forest because it's harder to leave the forest than to live here. So I stay here."

"Sooo… you live here?"

She nodded. "Yes, in this forest."

Guilt slowly weight down his chest. She slept in the forest all alone where criminals, murderers and other dangerous people were at. Soul couldn't even imagine how it was living in the forest. He was comfortable in his house and sleeping on his bed.

He _did_ have some extra space in his house. Maka might be a strange woman, but she appeared to be a kind and thoughtful person. He didn't help her the first time they met, but he could help her now.

"If you would like," he ran his hand through his hair. "You could move in with me. I have room for you and I could come up with a bed for you. It's better than to sleep in a dangerous forest."

Her eyebrows narrowed and she placed her hand underneath her chin. Thinking. A smile grew on her face and she nodded. "Okay." She tied her hands behind her back. "I promise you I won't be a burden and you can ask me to leave any time!"

A smile decorated his face. "No problem at all. It's cold outside. We should head home."

She nodded toward him and both of them started to walk away from the Hung Man's Tree. "You know, I thought I would never see you again after that time."

He chuckled heartily as they walked toward the forest. "Me neither. After not finding you, I didn't believe I would ever."

"Wait, no. Not that. Before."

Soul blinked in confusion to then narrow his eyebrows. "Before? We have never met before."

"Yes we have, but you were quite out of it." She spoke as they entered the forest and made their way toward the exit. "It was night and in a dark alley. I and my father found you bleeding out on the ground with a huge wound on your chest. I'm surprised you survived it."

His eyes widened.

That time. When he was only a little boy and rebelled against his parents. He went out at night even though he wasn't allowed. Soul had entered an alley and run into a very drunk man who had ended up assaulting him, cutting him open with a knife. The next moment, he woke up at the doctor with his mother crying beside his bed.

"That was you? That was _you_ who took me to the doctor?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Dad freaked out when he saw you bleeding on the ground. I could barely keep up with him as he carried you."

He was speechless. He didn't know what to say and Maka didn't seem to have anything to say either. They strolled in silence as they went back to his house.

Soul was still unable to grasp the thought that he'd _met_ Maka before. Well, maybe not met-met, but they did sort of meet before.

They went to Soul's home and he showed her his small shoe workshop before showing her his house. Lastly, he showed her to the extra room where she would be sleeping. He arranged a mattress, a blanket and a pillow for her to sleep on before he went to sleep in his room.

To his surprise, Maka never left him. And he never asked her to leave. Instead, he got to know her and she proved to be a very precious person. He ended up marrying her. He learned to love the woman and she ended up loving him. They were happy together. When he worked in the workshop, she stayed in their home and took care of house chores. It was pleasant to return to someone who kissed his cheek and had dinner on the table.

He truly, unconditionally loved her. He was the happiest man and his day automatically turned better as soon as he saw her beautiful face. His wedding was the happiest day in his life and he understood for the first time how much Black*Star loved his wife. How Black*Star nightly took belt whips to visit the girl he treasured. He would do the same to see Maka. She was her nut to his screw.

They lived happily together.

But they weren't meant to have their happily ever after.


	2. Part 2

**Hung Man's Tree**

**Part 2**

Soul groaned loudly when the bed dipped repeatedly. His eyes slowly opened and through the darkness, he saw his wife getting dressed. The moonlight filtered through their curtains and perfectly hit her bare back.

"Maka?" Soul inhaled loudly and rubbed his eyes. "It's still night. Come back to bed."

Maka didn't answer him. She pulled her shirt over her head and tied a ribbon of her strings.

"Are you okay, sweetheart?" He grew more worried at his wife missing reply. The fatigue from sleeping quickly went away and he sat up on their bed. "Maka? Is something wrong?" He watched his wife as she headed toward the door to their bedroom and grabbed the red coat of hers.

His heart speeded. Something was wrong. Goosebumps grew on his arms and neck and instantly, he got out of their bed and quickly stepped into his pants. "Maka?" He followed her out of their bedroom, kept repeating her name, but she was silent as the grave. Soul was surprised when she exited their house without grabbing any shoes. In his haste he grabbed her shoes and continued after her. The full moon was out and stared them down as they walked down their small patch of land. Worry blossomed in his chest as he kept trying to grab her attention.

"Maka! What are you d―" his hand grabbed her shoulder and flipped her around toward him. Astonish paralyzed him. Her eyes. Her usually amazing emerald eyes, made of every shade of green there was, were blank. Only a dark green covered her iris. No life. No sign of a presence in her gaze. "Maka…" Her name left his lips, her face showing no emotion. Her hand removed his from her shoulder and absentmindedly, she continued forward.

Confusion ran his mind busy. He hadn't a clue what was going on with his beloved. No idea where her legs where taking her. Not a thought of where her mind was imprisoned. No explanation which could clarify her sudden state.

His hand entwined with hers as they headed down the road. He tried to get her to change route to their home, but she tugged her hand from his and continued forward. When their hands entwined, there was no loving squeeze or a tug at the corner of her lips. Her hand was slack and absent just like her eyes.

His eyes fluttered with confusion when Maka took a sudden turn and entered a garden. A cute little brown house stood at the center of the garden. The two windows decorating the wall on either side of the front door where closed and dark, proved that the residents were asleep, like they should be.

Soul had no clue of who lived in the house, and Soul knew all of Maka's friends, and they were no acquaintances of the ones living in the house before him.

Without a beat of thought, Maka strolled up to the front door and tugged at the door knob. To Soul's surprise, the door slid open and Maka entered.

Maka had, without a doubt, just broken into someone's house and if the council heard about it, it could end badly for her. But if he entered as well, he would be an accomplice.

His jaw tensed and he quickly ran up the garden and into the house. Darkness enveloped him and only moonlight slipping through the cracks in the windows acted as light. Rapidly his eyes search for the red coat on his wife. "Maka." He dared to whisper loudly. "Let's get out of here." As before, he received no reply.

A creak from floorboards broke the silence. Instantly his eyes whipped toward the direction. Moonlight from a window hit the back of a red coat. Maka's hood was now pulled up and covered her hair. A split second, light from the moon reflected on metal in her hand and blinded his eyes.

In her hand was a knife.

"Maka!" He exclaimed and crossed the room and leaped at her. Maka moved quicker than lighting and the knife pierced air. Fabric slashed open as he dodged the egg of the knife in the last second. Instantly his eyes were on his torn shirt on his belly. A fine red line stretched from his side to his belly button and crimson blood trickled down his belly.

He hadn't dodged her attack.

"What in the world is going on?!" A deep and drowsy voice grabbed their attention. Swiftly Maka's head whipped toward the voice of the man. Her movements were swift as a wolf. The red coat flickered at the speed and flesh splitting and a gurgle filled the dark space. A hack and a cough of the man and then his body fell down on the ground. The moonlight sipped in and reflected on the liquid seeping out of his body. The blank piece of metal sprouted out of his chest proved that the man was long gone.

"What did you do Maka?!" Soul exclaimed and stared with wide eyes at her back. "Are you insane?!"

Leisurely, she kneeled down toward the corpse and retrieved the knife from the slender man's body. His flesh made disgusting sounds as she recovered it from his body.

A high pierced scream of a woman made him jump ten feet in the air. The moon reflected on the face of a frightened woman. Her hands glued to her cheeks and her nails dug into her pale cheeks.

Maka's head whipped toward the woman.

Soul's eyes widen when Maka took a step toward the woman. Instantly he threw himself at his wife and both of them tumbled to the ground. His wound throbbed with pain as he put his knee on her wrist, pined it to the floor. He worked her fingers from the handle of the knife and threw it away.

"S-Soul." His eyes returned to his wife's and to his surprise, they were clear. The corner of her lips faced down and tears poured up in her eyes. "I-I… did that?"

He looked down toward the wound on his stomach before he gazed back in her eyes. "… yes." He whispered.

Instantly tears broke free from her eyes and trickled down her cheeks. "No…" She whispered. "No! This can't be happening!" Her legs kicked the floor and she squirmed underneath him. "No! No! No!" She screamed at the top of her lungs.

"Maka! Calm d―" he hissed in pain as he went to restrain her arms above her head.

Her eyes widen and she breathed heavily and fast. "It's happening!" Her breathing increased. "It's happening!"

The door slammed open and he saw the frightened woman stand at the doorway with men beside her. One of them stood out from the crowd.

"Death The Kid. You got to help her." He pleaded as he held her down to the ground. "She's hyperventilating."

His golden eyes first went from the girl underneath her to the corpse just a couple of feet away from them. He turned back to the men behind him. "Arrest them. Treat his wound and question both of them what happened her."

Soul's eyes widened and his grip on Maka's wrists tightened. "You can't take her." His arms scooped the squirming and crying wife from the floor and held her tightly. "She needs help!"

The men from the council ignored his please, they approached him and surrounded him before they leaped at them. Hands ripped at his bare skin and at Maka's clothes. Her screams grew louder and her nails dug into his shoulders. "Soul!" She cried out loudly when a man's arms linked around her waist and ripped her away from him. He hissed in pain as his wife's nails painfully ripped his skin.

"Maka!" He quickly got up on his feet to quickly be pushed down on the ground.

"Sit down shoe-maker. She's going in for murder."

"No!" Soul growled loudly and struggled to get up. "Maka!" Arms latched onto his naked skin and pushed his back to the ground, pinning him to the floor.

"Soul!" His eyes caught hers as the members of the council dragged her toward the exit. Bloodshot and tears poured down from them. Terrified beyond belief. "It's happening!" She screamed at the top of her lungs. "The curse is happening!" Then, a high pitched scream echoed through the air and sent chills down his spine and shook him to the core.

She screamed his name.

Soul was taken to the doctor's house where the doctor in a robe sewed together his wound. The presence of the man who had lived only an hour ago disturbed his soul. He saw him talk, blink his eyes and breathe. Paralyzed he watched his wife, the love of his life, dug a knife into his chest. He watched the life leave his body. Soul could never unseen those eyes of his. The moon reflected in his eyes, the sclera wider than humanly possible. His eyes almost popped out of their sockets and his iris, small and fragile. Realization of his fast-approaching death clear as the sky of Death City.

Those eyes, of realization to then slowly melt away just like his muscles.

His eyes of empty death could never be forgotten.

And it was _Maka_ who made those eyes a reality in his ending life.

Maka. The curse. When she told him about it that faithful day in the forest, he didn't believe her. It sounded too fiction in his ears. Having her bloodline cursed and lost her father to it, it sounded like a small child's fantasy. Curses didn't exist. They were apocryphal and would never exist in the world they live in.

If curses didn't exist, what would compel his wife to wake up in the middle of the night, wander the streets absentmindedly to enter a stranger's home and murder an innocent man? Soul couldn't make any contact with her, she refused to come with him back home. Maka may have been a strange girl whose home was in the criminal's forest, but she wasn't a murderer. The time they spent together, he learned she was an affectionate person who loved playing her ocarina. She had her strange ways, but she wasn't a murderer who would slay a man.

If such a curse existed, it would explain her behavior, but did it exist?

The doctor finished treating his wound, but he stayed on the table. Emotionally and mentally he was exhausted after the night's horrified occurrence. His mind replayed the incident in his mind like a broken record.

The door gently swung open and in walked the members of the council inside of the doctor's room. Tsubaki's father, the blacksmith and the doctor moved toward the corpse on the examination table beside his. The other three other men, including Death The Kid approached him.

"Mr. Evans," Death The Kid spoke, "your wife is very reluctant of giving us her side of the story of what happened this tragic night."

Soul blinked in confusion as he looked into the golden eyes. "What?"

"Mrs. Evans refuses to inform us." The man with golden hair and a white hat on his head strongly said. Soul recognized him as the town's priest. "She tells she does not remember, but we all know that is not the c―"

"She speaks the truth!" Soul exclaimed and sat up too quickly for his wounded stomach. He groaned in pain and immediately slumped down on the surface of the table. "I awoke when she left our home. I couldn't get any contact with her! It was as if she'd been bewitched. She had no clue what she was doing."

"And zombies exists too." And older man with braids in his hair snorted loudly. "He speaks nonsense just like his wife. I can see why he married her."

"Hey you―"

"Calm down." Death The Kid reassured Soul by laying his hand on his shoulder. "Don't bother with him. Continue your story."

Soul filled the council member in on his side of the night. How he followed her to the stranger's home and witnessed his wife commit murder. He consciously did leave out the part about the curse of the Albarn's. He couldn't have the council thinking he was a maniac too.

The doctor and the blacksmith returned to Death The Kid's side and informed him that the wound indeed matched the bloodied knife they found on the floor and could officially label the knife as the murder weapon.

"Mr. Death!" Soul spoke up from the table when the council was just about to leave.

Death The Kid turned around and faced the wounded man on the table.

"I wish to visit my wife. Immediately."

The head of the council nodded approvingly. "Very well. You are free from suspicion so I see no reason why you cannot visit her as long as you leave when visitation time runs out." And the door clicked shut behind him.

It was more difficult that Soul originally had in mind. The simplest of task of getting up from the table proved to be painful and difficult. The stitches ripped at his skin and he carefully and clumsily got on his feet. He gripped his wounded side and headed toward the prison where Maka was being held captive.

He arrived at the prison and as quick as his wound allowed him, he ran toward the cell block where she would be kept captive.

"Soul!" He came to a halt and turned around. Kilik and Harvar came running toward him from across the hallways in their guard uniforms. "Dude!" he yelled loudly and stopped right in front of him. "Is it true?! Did Maka really kill that guy?! I know Maka was very odd, but I never though s―"

"Shut the fuck up!" He bared his teeth toward his friends. "She didn't do _anything!_" And he took off from his friends.

He tackled into the doors and his eyes fast searched the cells. Empty. Empty. Empty. The city's criminal rates were high, but the council never got a hold of any of them. Soul busted through another door and another block of cells were before him. Empty. Empty― bingo!

"Soul!" Maka exclaimed and immediately flung toward the bars. "I don't want to die!"

Instantly he was up at the bars and snaked his arm around her waist through the bars. "I won't let you." The hug was uncomfortable with bars separating them, but it did prove to be some comfort to his wife. Her sobs reduced and her arms tightened around him.

"I- I-" She sniffled and a wet patch grew on his chest. "I― I don't know what to do."

"We will figure something out." Soul's hand ran through her hair and gently soothed her as well as he could. "As long as you're here, you won't go and hang yourself. I promise you I will stay right here."

Maka shook her head as well as she could having her head squeezed through the bars. "You don't understand. M―"

The door Soul went through swung open and in walked Kilik. "Look, before you yell at me, I'm sorry." His hand shoved deep in his pocket and retrieved a metal circle with plenty of keys on. "But I can make it worth to both of you for a while consider the council isn't happy."

"What do you mean?" Soul growled as Kilik approached him, going through key after key for the right one.

"What I mean is she's most likely going to end up with a noose around her n―"

Maka cried out loudly and her nails dug into Soul's back.

"Oh fuck." Kilik sighed as he found the right key. "I'll give you till dawn in the cell." The key sunk into the lock and Soul entangled himself from Maka. As soon as the door opened, he threw himself at his wife and embraced her without the bars separating them. The door clicked shut behind them and Kilik left them alone.

"I'm going to die. I'm going to die. _I'm going to die!_" Maka repeated over and over again, her voice muffled by his bare chest.

"You aren't going to die. Not from the curse or the council. I swear I will protect you." He sunk to his knees and collected her in his arms. "You're going to be fine." He whispered into her ear and rocked her gently in his arms. "Everything will be fine." He caressed her hair.

"No." She sniffled. "It won't." Tears burdened her vocal cords. "My dad ended up in this situation. Killed two people and the next night he busted out of prison and brought a guard and his previous victims with him. He hung them in the tree like decoration before the curse hung him."

Soul's spine stiffened and straightened. Thoughts started to circulate inside of his mind and he grimaced. If the curse ruled ruthlessly as with her father, she barely had twenty-four hours before she would be hung from a noose in the Hang Man's Tree. He couldn't let that happen to her. Their journey together was beginning, not ending. It couldn't end like this.

"I don't get it." Maka inhaled and exhaled deeply at a poor attempt at calming herself down. "The curse shouldn't kick in before I have a child or two. If it kills me tomorrow, the Albarn Legacy will end and it won't have anyone else to torment."

"Is there a time limit? Maybe you're the same age as your father when it… you know."

Maka shook her head against his naked chest. "No. My father lived much longer than I. I don't know why it started it now."

"Then you will live longer." His arms around her tightened and he possessively snuggled his head on top of hers. "Maybe it simply started earlier. Maybe it will wait till you grow older and then it will take you. The curse won't let you die by the council, right? You'll live."

Soul didn't know who he was comforting. Himself or Maka. He had the gut feeling everything wasn't okay. A sensation time was running out faster for them than he could ever imagine. Ever since that day he met her again, the clock was ticking and their days together were counted. At the beginning, he didn't believe her story about the curse, and he wished he did. Maybe it could've been different. Maybe he could've found a solution to their problem and they would be living happily ever after. Curse-free.

He bit his lower lip and his sharp teeth broke his lip. His spine tingled and he was afraid if he let go of his wife, he would lose her forever.

He couldn't let that happen.

Sunrise came quicker than he wished for. Kilik returned and Soul had to leave Maka's cell, but he didn't leave her side. They embraced each other through the bars, simply holding each other and thinking of a solution to their problem. A solution to stopping an unstoppable curse that had ruled for who knew how long.

Soul refused to accept his wife's ongoing doom. He refused to leave her side for food, bathroom break or collect a shirt to warm his freezing body. The warm Maka provided through their embrace was enough for him. Although, when Kilik returned to check them out, he came with breakfast for them and a warm shirt for Soul since the "prison could get very cold".

Other guards came and wanted him to leave, but he refused. He sat there, on the floor on the other side of the bars, with his arms through the bars. He simply thought. Desperately thinking of a solution, but none would come.

Soul stayed the entire day, hunger digging a hole in his stomach, but he never left. Occasionally he would kiss Maka and whisper his love for her.

The door swung open to the corridor and in a line, the three council men walked inside with Death The Kid in the lead. His jet black mantle moved for every step and he came to a halt in front of them. The two men Soul had met in the doctor's clinic were also there.

Death The Kid cleared his throat and unrolled a scroll he held in his hands. "We, the council members, have decided on a fitting punishment for Mrs. Maka Evans." Death The Kid started. "The evidence is clear that Mrs. Evans did indeed commit murder with a kitchen knife and she did indeed attempt at murdering the victim's wife. The council sees Mrs. Evans as a threat to our community and therefore as punishment she will receive the death penalty―"

Maka cried out in his arms. New tears flooded down her cheeks onto the brown shirt he borrowed from his dear friend.

"With all due respect council members," Soul started and hugged Maka close to him. "Maka did nothing wrong. She was completely unaware of her actions and shouldn't be held responsible for the actions she was not aware of committing. Killing her wouldn't solve anything. I promise you, council members, I can take care of h―"

"Absolutely not!"

"Mr. Barett." Death the Kid silenced the man with the braids and returned his attention toward Soul. "Continue."

"Let me take care of her." Soul ran his hand through Maka's hair. "Let me be her protector and if she does anything illegal, hold _me_ responsible for her actions. Her parents were absent and she lived in a forest her entire childhood. She does not know good from bad. Please, let me help her." Soul's eyes pierced Death The Kid's eyes. "Please, don't take my wife from me."

"You cannot grant such a request." The man to his left spoke, the blond man with the cap. "She committed a sin and there is nothing to forgive murder. Not even God could be able to grant her forgiveness and accept her in heaven."

"Yes, Mr. Death. It would be wrong on granting such a request. Think about it, we will finally get one killer of the streets. It would be one less criminal to worry about."

"The point you are missing, Mr. Barett and Father Law, Mrs. Evans here wouldn't be of our concern. Mrs. Evans would no longer be our problem, but her husband's." Death the Kid spoke as he gazed at the married couple on the ground, embracing each other through the bars. "The death penalty will be temporary called off. I would like to discuss this new solution to the murder case with the rest of the council."

Soul exhaled and his nails dug into his wife's waist. "Thank you Mr. Death!" It wasn't called off, but it was temporarily postponed. That would give them enough time to figure something out on the council front and then come up with something to prevent the curse.

Death The Kid left the corridor with Mr. Barett and Father Law following him suit, gawking at Death The Kid and at Maka, utterly confused at the head of the council's decision.

Night came and to Maka and Soul's relief, Kilik brought them hot soup to enjoy. The prison grew colder and colder. Maka had offered her red coat to her husband, but he refused to accept it. He refused having his wife freezing. Maka and Soul grew tired, their embrace loosened and they started changing positions to find a comfortable position to rest in. They ended up sleeping on the floor, on either side of the bars, holding each other's hands.

His wife quickly fell asleep, but Soul had trouble sleeping. His body was calling for relaxation, but he would have none of it. Barely a day had gone by since his wife committed murder, or the curse committed murder, and if the curse had the same pattern as her father's death, this would be her last night alive. She wouldn't see the sunrise.

If he could prevent her death by staying up, guarding her from the curse, he would do so.

Soon, as the moon gazed through the bars on her window, his eyes quickly turned to sandpaper. Last night he didn't get a full night sleep and that only made his task at staying awake more difficult than it already was. Even the cold stone floor he laid on was inviting and comfortable to sleep on. As soon as his eyelids were half-closed, he would slap his cheeks a few times to regain some consciousness.

Soul wasn't a God or powerful man. No, as a little boy he enjoyed sleeping outside in the green grass or on a branch surrounded with leaves and the sunlight sipping through beautifully. He enjoyed sleeping on his piano when he was supposed to practice. Sleep had been his best friend for many years, even as a married man, he enjoyed sleep.

He was human. And humans had needs. He didn't even notice it himself when sleep crawled onto him and peacefully brought him into the arms of dreams.

In his dreams, he dreamt about his everyday life. How he enjoyed making shoes for his customers. To swing a hammer and create beautiful products with his hands instead of producing music as his parents had wanted him to do. He loved his job and his earning wasn't bad. He was proud for living in the cute house with the love of his life. He was proud over the fact he had income to buy his wife what she desired since she didn't desire that expensive items. Soul was very proud over the fact he could buy her cooking tools and other kitchen wares she wished for since she loved cooking. In his dream, he could smell her creation from within the kitchen. A delicious vegetable soup with maybe chicken from the local farm.

It was nice. Kissing his wife and eating her food to then cuddle up on their shared bed. There was nothing he loved more than being around his precious wife.

Soul was startled awake when bricks flew through the air and dust covered the small cell of Maka's.

His heart jumped in his throat as his eyes widened. "MAKA!" He exclaimed and noticed he was no longer holding her hand. Dust caught in his throat and he coughed violently. The moon penetrated the clouds of dust and when it finally laid down, his eyes almost popped out from his skull. The wall was busted open. Bricks lay scattered outside of the large hole in the wall. His beloved was nowhere to be seen.

Did Maka do this?

Instantly Soul shook his head as he jumped up on his feet.

No. It was the curse which did it.

Soul ran out of the corridor and through the other blocks of prisons. Guards started to run and to his relief, they didn't bother with him. He quickly made it outside and whipped his head from right to left, searching for his wife's familiar red coat. It was nowhere in sight.

He didn't need to see her to know where the curse would take her.

With his heart in his throat, he ran. Ran to the forest with Hung Man's Tree as a goal. His eyes teared up as his hands trembled with fear. Fear for his wife's safety. He refused to let her never see the sunrise again. He got to save her. He had to take her away from the tree even if that was the last thing he did.

His jaw tightened when he threw himself into the forest. The branches from the trees and bushes ripped at his pants and shirt, but he didn't care. The branches could cut him open and he wouldn't care. Only Maka was on his mind. Nothing else.

He leaped out of the forest into the dead meadow and a loud gasped escaped his throat.

The moon was twice its normal size and it gazed superiorly over the tree. A body was already hung from the tree and judging from the size, Soul was relieved to come to the conclusion it was too large to be his wife's corpse. His eyes then landed on the shadow that stood on a branch, without a rope around its neck. Soul didn't even have to guess who it was.

"MAKA!" He roared loudly and ran toward the tree. "Don't let the curse control you!" His breathing was heavy and fatigue weight his body. "Don't you dare let it control your destiny! You aren't supposed to die here!" Soul's body collided with the trunk of the tree and his nails dug into the bark. His feet desperately kicked at the bark in order to climb up to his love.

His eyes desperately kept an eye on Maka and he was relieved when she simply stood there, staring off into the distant with her hands entwined.

"Maka." He breathed out in relief when he reached the branch and stood up. "Let's go home." He took a step toward her and removed one of her hands to lace their fingers together. "Come on. Can you climb down the tree?"

Maka didn't answer or respond to his words. Her eyes vacantly stayed locked at the horizon.

The curse still had its claws in her to his disappointment.

"Come on Maka." He whispered soothingly and tugged at her hand. She wouldn't budge. He cocked his eyebrow and he pulled at her hand again. Her feet wouldn't move. "Maka?" He released her hand and carefully kneeled down on the branch. His hands caged her right ankle and he tugged at it. It absolutely under any circumstances would not budge.

Soul immediately jumped up, startled out of his mind when and object touched his head. He straightened his body and he saw Maka with a noose in her hands.

Her intention was to hang _him_.

"Maka." He backpedalled when she made a move to put it over his head. "You don't want to do t―" His words were lost. The moon casted light on half her face. Her left side lit up creepily and the trail of tears glistered brightly.

She was there. She was present.

He could save her.

"I know you're there." He cupped her face and wiped away the tears from her cheeks. "I love you Maka and I know you love me too. You wouldn't want it to end this way."

He eyes stared into his. As blank as before. But the tears continuously flowing down her cheeks were proof enough that she was still there, fighting to break free. He needed to give her momentum, strength to break free and forever to be his.

Her hands continued to move. The sensation of the old rope scratching his cheeks before it settled around his neck was eerie and frightening. He hated it. He wanted to remove his hands from his wife and remove it immediately, but this could be his only chance to get her back.

"Maka." He bit his lower lip and his tears broke free from his eyes and trickled down his cheeks. "You don't want this. You don't want this." He repeated as her hands tightened the rope behind his head. "I know you're there. You wouldn't want to kill your husband, the one you love, would you?"

She didn't respond. Instead more tears trickled down her cheeks and shades of green started to appear in her eyes.

It was working.

"We can't end like this." His hands stayed on her cheeks and desperately wiping away her tears. His forehead came to rest on hers and his tears dripped down from his cheeks. "_We_ can't end. Don't let this stupid curse control our lives. Don't let it." He tilted his head and their lips connected. To his disappointment, she didn't respond. He simply pressed his lips against hers and touched her face with his hands.

Her hands released the knot on the rope and slowly slide to his shoulders and down his chest.

A sob wracked against his lips and she sniffled.

Slowly he pulled away from her and was pleasantly surprised when her eyes were glistering with every shade of green there was. Her body trembled with sobs and snot escaped her nose.

A soft smile stretched on his face. "Maka."

"S―" her hands moved on their own and pushed him, "―OUUUUUL!" She cried out loudly and her voice drowned out bone snapping. She cried out loudly in pain from her now broken heart. The sound of rope stretching and swaying broke the little she had left of herself. The threads of the curse controlled her limbs like a mannequin. Her hands moved on their own toward the rope she had pointed out that fateful day, the one her life would end in.

Tears rolled down her cheeks like waterfalls as the curse moved her hands and applied the rope around her neck.

She didn't even care anymore. She had nothing to live for. The haunted presence of what she had done weight down her broken heart and there was nothing that could save her.

Her feet left the branch and her cries stopped. The two lovers' tears kept trickling down their cheeks and landed on the cursed soil.

The curse always got what it wanted. For eons it demanded three sacrifices. And Maka Albarn, the last victim of the curse, was no exception. Three out of four ropes were occupied, but the curse harbored four lives.


End file.
